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Departments flag higher software costs, staffing pressure and BSNA rollout issues during budget presentations
Summary
IT and multiple departments told the committee that software and contract costs are rising, that BSNA conversion caused workflow changes, and that several departments are managing retirements and hiring pressures; EDP and police described shifting enforcement and public-safety staffing needs.
City department leaders appearing before the Committee of the Whole on April 7 highlighted common themes during their budget presentations: rising software and vendor costs, staffing and succession challenges, implementation issues from the citywide BSNA software conversion, and continued emphasis on public-safety and enforcement capacity.
IT: Jason (IT director) said software and hardware maintenance costs rose materially — the IT software line in the proposed budget increased by roughly 15% versus the prior year — and cited tariff-driven price pressure and vendor subscription increases. The department said it supports the city’s 3-1-1 service but still handles many calls directly. IT reported that it had eliminated an AT&T service to save about $35,000 and that three staff members are retirement-eligible; the director said a vacancy recruitment would begin soon.
Assessing: City Assessor Jennifer (last name in packet) said the assessing office is near full staffing after a multi-year effort to replace vacancies and contractual positions; the office has improved its appeal outcomes at the Michigan Tax Tribunal and reported low losses in recent tribunal settlements. The office uses the BS&A system and described the recent BSNA conversion as manageable compared with prior conversions.
City Attorney: Greg Venker, city attorney, said the personnel cost rise in the department reflects salary increases and a reclassification that created a new assistant city attorney position. He reported four departures in the past year (none by retirement) and said the office is exploring shared legal research subscriptions with the Board of Water & Light to reduce costs.
Neighborhood Arts & Citizen Engagement: Director Delisa Fontaine said her office reallocated $20,000 to expand neighborhood grants and that the department handles intake for Human Relations & Community Services using MS Dynamics. The office noted its positive experience with the city’s 3-1-1 operation; a reduced 3-1-1 call allocation in the proposed budget reflects lower call volumes or changes in how call workload was calculated.
Police: Chief Backus said the department proposed a status-quo budget with a roughly 3% increase driven by salary and contractual costs. He reported 22 separations in the prior year, 10 retirements, and current sworn staffing around 190 of 212 authorized positions; six vacancies remained. The department has six recruits in the academy due to graduate in May and 33 candidates moved to background checks. The police are implementing a new records-management and evidence integration suite from Axon to streamline body-worn camera and evidence workflows.
Economic Development & Planning (EDP): Director Raleigh VanFossen outlined EDP’s six divisions and said fee changes will be proposed for parking and for certain building-safety permits. He described a department priority — expanded code and premise enforcement — and explained the plan to deploy iPads for field inspectors and code officers to improve inspection efficiency. VanFossen noted building-safety fee language changes emerged late in budget compilation and said staff will provide substitute language to council.
BSNA rollout: Multiple presenters said the conversion from the legacy .NET system to BSNA (cloud-hosted) had produced a mixture of transition issues and gradual improvement. Several departments reported initial payroll or workflow difficulties, a public-facing enforcement feed that was temporarily removed while issues were addressed, and ongoing items tracked with the BSNA vendor for future updates.
Council members pressed departments on succession planning for near-retirement staff, the drivers of IT cost increases and whether outsourced options were considered, sidewalk funding trade-offs, and whether newly funded police positions could be filled given persistent vacancy rates.
The presentations will feed into upcoming budget deliberations; departments said they could accomplish required services with the proposed budgets but noted areas where additional staff or funding would be useful if revenues allow.
